Determination of the laterally homogeneous barrier height of metal/p-InP Schottky barrier diodes

We have reported a study of a number of metal/p-type InP (Cu, Au, Al, Sn, Pb, Ti, Zn) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). Each one diode has been identically prepared on p-InP under vacuum conditions with metal deposition. In Schottky diodes, the current transport occurs by thermionic emission over the Schottky barrier. The current–voltage characteristics of Schottky contacts are described by two fitting parameters such as effective barrier height and the ideality factor. Due to lateral inhomogeneities of the barrier height, both characteristic diode parameters differ from one diode to another. We have determined the lateral homogeneous barrier height of the SBDs from the linear relationship between experimental barrier heights and ideality factors that can be explained by lateral inhomogeneity of the barrier height. Furthermore, the barrier heights of metal–semiconductor contacts have been explained by the continuum of metal-induced gap states (MIGS). It has been seen that the laterally homogeneous barrier heights obtained from the experimental data of the metal/p-type InP Schottky contacts quantitatively confirm the predictions of the combination of the physical MIGS and the chemical electronegativity.     

Electrical properties of the perovskite (Pb, La)TiO3 films deposited by electron cyclotron resonance plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

The effects of La content and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the capacitance (C–V) and leakage current (J–E) properties of the PLT films were investigated. The films were deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates at 480 °C by electron cyclotron resonance plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ECR PECVD). The La doped films showed slim P–E hysteresis curves and almost no frequency dependency of permittivity. As the La content increased beyond 11%, Pb was excessively incorporated into the PLT film, resulting in non-stoichiometric compositions with (Pb+La)/Ti>1, degraded crystallinity and decreased capacitance. After RTA at 700 °C, C–V curves became symmetric and leakage current characteristics were improved, but the crystallinity and the ferroelectricity of the films were not so much improved although the film became stoichiometric. The leakage current of the films was controlled by Schottky conduction except for the low electric field region where the trap current of mobile charges or hopping conduction appeared to be dominant. In order to explain the RTA dependence of the C–V shift and the polarity dependence of the J–E characteristics of the PLT films, a physical model was suggested, based on the surface states and Pb vacancies, which affects the width of the space charge region and the height of the Schottky barrier. © 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Interfacial reactions in the Sn–Sb/Ag and Sn–Sb/Cu couples

Sn–Sb and Sn–Sb-based alloys are important high temperature solders. Interfacial reactions are examined in the Sn-5.0 at% Sb/Ag and Sn-10.0 at% Sb/Ag at 200 °C, and Sn-5.0 at% Sb/Cu and Sn-10.0 at% Sb/Cu at 250 °C. Only the Ag₃Sn phase is formed in the Sn–Sb/Ag couples, and Cu₆Sn₅ and Cu₃Sn phases are formed in the Sn–Sb/Cu couples. The reaction products all grow linearly with the square root of reaction time which suggests the interfacial reactions are diffusion controlled.     

Electrical transport mechanism in plasma polymerized 2, 6, diethylaniline thin films

Plasma polymerized 2, 6, diethylaniline (PPDEA) thin films were deposited at room temperature on to glass substrates by a capacitively coupled parallel plate glow discharge reactor. The surface of the PPDEA thin films has been found uniform and pinhole free from the scanning electron micrographs. The observation by electron dispersive X-ray analysis indicates the presence of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen in the PPDEA thin films. The current density-voltage characteristics of aluminum (Al)/PPDEA/Al structure of different film thicknesses have been studied at different temperatures. In the low voltage region, the conduction current obeys Ohm's law while the charge transport phenomenon appears to be Schottky type in the higher voltage region. The temperature dependence of the current density for different bias voltages was also investigated which confirms the possibility of Schottky emission in PPDEA thin films as well.     

Determination of the laterally homogeneous barrier height of metal/p-InP Schottky barrier diodes

We have reported a study of a number of metal/p-type InP (Cu, Au, Al, Sn, Pb, Ti, Zn) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). Each one diode has been identically prepared on p-InP under vacuum conditions with metal deposition. In Schottky diodes, the current transport occurs by thermionic emission over the Schottky barrier. The current–voltage characteristics of Schottky contacts are described by two fitting parameters such as effective barrier height and the ideality factor. Due to lateral inhomogeneities of the barrier height, both characteristic diode parameters differ from one diode to another. We have determined the lateral homogeneous barrier height of the SBDs from the linear relationship between experimental barrier heights and ideality factors that can be explained by lateral inhomogeneity of the barrier height. Furthermore, the barrier heights of metal–semiconductor contacts have been explained by the continuum of metal-induced gap states (MIGS). It has been seen that the laterally homogeneous barrier heights obtained from the experimental data of the metal/p-type InP Schottky contacts quantitatively confirm the predictions of the combination of the physical MIGS and the chemical electronegativity.     

器件级同质外延CVD金刚石膜上的具有高击穿电压的铝肖特基二极管

用微波等离子体化学气相沉积方法合成高品质同质外延金刚石膜,并且用扫描电镜和阴极荧光分析法评价。为了得到高薄膜生长速率,把甲烷浓度设定在4%。薄膜上的生长丘的数量和大小依赖于生长条件。在本工作的样品中,未发现任何非外延晶粒。室温下的阴极荧光分光结果表明这种金刚石薄膜具有与自由励起子相关的谱峰。氢终端的膜表面制作的铝电极显示了P型整流特性。击穿电压高于380V。实验结果表明,阴极荧光分析法观测到的缺陷和电性能密切相关,并且可以在有室温边发射的金刚石表面上制作具有高击穿电压的整流电极。     

Effect of strong illumination on current-voltage characteristics of Au/Si, Al/Si and Sn/Si Schottky barriers with native oxide layer

Light induced general degradation in the dark I–V characteristics of Au/Si, Al/Si and Sn/Si junctions at low temperature and at room temperature. Illumination caused changes in the interface and bulk properties of the investigated junctions, all of them prepared under identical conditions. Their barrier heights, φB change with increasing illumination time. The largest rate of degradation in φB upon exposure to light was observed for an Sn/Si junction (lowest φB), whereas the smallest change occurred with an Au/Si junction (highest φB). At low temperature, upon turning off the light, the photogenerated current of the Sn/Si sample exhibited faster recovery in reaching the initial dark current (at till=0) than the Al/Si junction; for the less reactive Au/Si sample, the presence of the oxide layer reduced the leakage current and subsequently delayed recovery of the measured photocurrent. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Influence of annealing effects on the electrical and microstructural properties of Se Schottky contacts on n-type GaN

The electrical and microstructural properties of Se/n-gallium nitride (GaN) Schottky diode have been investigated by current–voltage (I–V), capacitance–voltage (C–V) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements as a function of annealing temperature. The Se/n-GaN Schottky contact exhibited an excellent rectification behavior. The barrier height of the as-deposited Se/n-GaN Schottky contact is 0.94 eV (I–V) and 1.55 eV (C–V), respectively. However, the barrier height of Se/n-GaN Schottky diode decreases to 0.90 eV (I–V) and 1.33 eV (C–V) upon annealing at 200 °C. Cheung’s and modified Norde functions are employed to determine the barrier height and series resistance. TEM results reveal that the Se film becomes fully crystallized for the contact annealed at 200 °C compared to the as-deposited contact without the reaction between Se film and GaN substrate. It is observed that the barrier height of Se/n-GaN Schottky diode decreases with increasing annealing temperature. This could be associated with the decrease in series resistance caused by the phase transformation from high resistance amorphous Se to low resistance crystalline Se. Further, the interface states density is found to be increased with the increasing annealing temperature. The Schottky emission mechanism is found to dominate the reverse leakage current in Se/n-GaN Schottky diodes irrespective of annealing temperatures.     

Growth and temperature dependent characterization of pulsed laser deposited Ag/n-ZnO/p-Si/Al heterojunction

The Ag/n-ZnO/p-Si(100)/Al heterojunction diodes were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films on p-type silicon. The X-ray diffraction analysis shows the formation of ZnO thin film with hexagonal structure having strong (002) plane as preferred orientation. The energy band gap of ZnO films simultaneously deposited on quartz substrate was calculated from the measured UV–Visible transmittance spectra. High purity vacuum evaporated silver and aluminum thin films were used to make contacts to the n-ZnO and p-silicon, respectively. The current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics of Ag/n-ZnO/p-Si(100)/Al heterostructures were measured over the temperature range of 80–300 K. The Schottky barrier height and ideality factor were determined by fitting of the measured current–voltage data into thermionic emission diffusion equation. It is observed that the barrier height decreases and the ideality factor increases with decrease of temperature and the activation energy plot exhibit non-linear behavior. This decrease in barrier height and increase in ideality factor at low temperature are attributed to the occurrence Gaussian distribution of barrier heights. The capacitance–voltage characteristics of Ag/n-ZnO/p-Si(100)/Al heterojunction diode were also studied over the wide temperature range. Capacitance–voltage data are used to estimate the barrier height and impurity concentration in n-type ZnO.     

Conductivity mechanisms in poly(p-phenylene vinylene) light-emitting diodes at high and low bias

Polymer light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on the structure ITO conducting glass /poly(p-phenylene vinylene)/metal (Al, In, Mg) have been investigated with particular emphasis on some anomalous and poorly understood features of the conduction mechanisms. At large forward bias (above 3 V, where electroluminescence is seen) the DC current is dominated by hole injection at the bottom ITO electrode and is not very sensitive to the top electrode metal or the fabrication conditions. It always increases exponentially with voltage at 20°C, but studies on operating voltages and apparent ideality factors as a function of thickness indicate that the conduction mechanism probably involves thermally assisted tunnelling rather than a simple Schottky diode mechanism. In contrast, the current at low forward bias (0.1–3 V) is exceptionally sensitive to the top electrode material, fabrication conditions, and operating history of the device. Anomalous behaviour is often seen, particularly with new devices and with Mg or In electrodes. With Al electrodes, particularly after a top electrode annealing step, the behaviour becomes much more stable and resistive, and logJ increases linearly with V^1/4 over 3 orders of magnitude of current. The overall behaviour at low bias is controlled by the barrier to holes at the top electrode, but the role of filamentary defects, dopants, and the insulating interfacial layer is also discussed.     

Fabrication and characterization of organic light-emitting diodes using zinc complexes as hole-blocking layer

2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole (HPB) was employed as organic ligand and the corresponding zinc complexes (Zn(HPB)2 and Zn(HPB)q) were synthesized. And their EL properties were characterized. The structures of zinc complexes were determined with FT-NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis, and XPS. The thermal stability showed up to about 300 degrees C under nitrogen flow, which was measured by TGA. The photoluminescence (PL) of zinc complexes were measured from the DMF solution. The PL emitted in blue and yellow region, respectively. The EL devices were fabricated by the vacuum deposition. Two kinds of OLEDs devices were fabricated; ITO/NPB (40 nm)/Zn complexes (60 nm)/LiF/Al and ITO/NPB (40 nm)/Alq3 (60 nm)/Zn complexes (5 nm)/LiF/Al. Both of the EL properties as the emitting and the hole-blocking layer were investigated. The EL emission of Zn(HPB)q exhibited green light centered at 532 nm. The device showed a turn-on voltage at 5 V and a luminance of 6073 cd/m2 at 10 V. Meanwhile, the maximum EL the emission of the Zn(HPB)2 device was found to be at 447 nm. And the device showed a luminance of 2813 cd/m2 at 10 V. The ITO/NPB (40 nm)/Alq3 (60 nm)/Zn(HPB)2 (5 nm)/LiF/Al device showed increased luminance of L=17000 cd/m2 compared to L=12000 cd/m2 for similar device fabricated without the hole-blocking layer. And the turn-on voltage was significantly affected by the existence of the hole-blocking layer.     

Structure and strength of AlN/V bonding interfaces

AlN ceramics are bonded using vanadium metal foils at high temperatures in vacuum. Different bonding temperatures were used in the range 1373–1773 K with bonding times of 0.3–21.6 ks. The AlN/V interfaces of the bonded joints were investigated using SEM, electron probe microanalysis and X-ray diffraction. A bonding temperature of 1573 K was found to be suitable to activate both parts to initiate a phase reaction at the interface, because a thin V(Al) solid solution layer formed adjacent to the ceramic at 1573 K just after 0.9 ks, and a small flake-shaped V₂N reaction product formed inside the vanadium central layer. The formation of V(Al) and V₂N controls the interfacial joining of the AlN/V system at 1573 K up to 5.4 ks bonding time. The pure vanadium layer quickly changed to vanadium-containing V₂N. The diffusion path could be predicted for the AlN/V joints up to 0.9 ks at 1573 K following the sequence AlN/V(Al)/V₂N/V, while after 0.9 ks, the interface structure changed to AlN/V(Al)/V₂N + V by the growth Of V₂N into the vanadium. The AlN/V joints shovyed no ternary compounds at the interface. A maximum bond strength could be obtained for a joint bonded at 1573 K after 5.4 ks having a structure of AlN/V(Al)/V₂N + V. At 7.2 ks, nitrogen, resulting from AlN decomposition, escaped and the remaining aluminium reacted with V(Al) to form V₅Al₈ intermetallic, which is attributable to the decrease in bond strength.     

Schottky diode fabricated on a single crystalline diamond rod

The fabrication process of Al/diamond Schottky diodes on single crystalline diamond rods (SCDRs) was demonstrated. SCDRs of submicron diameters were obtained by etching a polished polycrystalline diamond film in oxygen plasma. The as-scratched SCDR was confirmed to be single crystalline diamond by electron diffraction measurements showing the same fuzzy spot pattern at different parts of an SCDR. Each SCDR was extracted from a grain in the polycrystalline film where the grain size served as a limit of the length of an SCDR. Al/Ti and Al metals were deposited to form ohmic and Schottky contacts, respectively. A hydrogen plasma treatment is an essential step prior to the formation of an Al/diamond Schottky contact in order to improve the device performance. The submicron scale Al/diamond Schottky diode exhibits a very high current density of 1.4 × 10(4) A cm(-2) at a forward bias (V(F)) voltage of - 3 V.     

Schottky barrier mediated single-polarity resistive switching in Pt layer-included TiO(x) memory device

A distinct unipolar but single-polarity resistive switching behavior is observed in a TiO(x)/Pt/TiO(x) trilayer structure, formed by thermal oxidation of a Ti/Pt/Ti stack. As a comparison, a memory device with a single TiO(x) active layer (without addition of Pt midlayer) is also fabricated but it cannot perform resistive switching. Energy band diagrams are illustrated to realize the modulation of Schottky barrier junctions and current conduction in TiO(x)-based devices under various biasing polarities. Introduction of the Pt midlayer creates two additional Schottky barriers, which mediate the band bending potential at each metal-oxide interface and attains a rectifying current conduction at the high-resistance state. The rectifying conduction behavior is also observed with an AFM-tip as the top electrode, which implies the rectifying property is still valid when miniaturizing the device to nanometer scale. The current rectification consequently leads to a single-polarity, unipolar resistive switching and electrically rewritable performance for the TiO(x)/Pt/TiO(x) device.     

SiO2/聚酰亚胺/SiO2复合薄膜绝缘性能及基于聚酰亚胺复合薄膜的后栅型场致发射性能的研究

使用射频磁控溅射和化学溶液法制备了SiO2/聚酰亚胺(PI)/SiO2绝缘膜。分别使用X射线衍射、扫描电镜对薄膜结构和薄膜表面形貌进行了表征;利用超高阻微电流测试仪测试了SiO2/PI/SiO2复合绝缘膜漏电流和电压击穿特性;采用SiO2/PI/SiO2作为绝缘膜,制作了后栅型场致发射器件,使用场发射测试系统测试了器件的开启电压、发射电流以及发光亮度。结果表明:SiO2/PI/SiO2复合绝缘膜具有高的击穿电压和低的漏电流密度,后栅器件中栅极对阴极表面的电场强度调控作用明显,阳极电压为750V时,栅极开启电压为91 V,阳极电流可达384μA,栅极漏电流仅为59μA,器件最高亮度可达600 cd/m2。     

金属/Hg1-xMnxTe接触的I-V特性研究

分别采用溅射和蒸发镀膜法在Hg1-xMnxTe试样表面形成了Au/Hg1-xMnxTe和Al/Hg1-xMnxTe接触,并用Aligent4155c I-V测试仪对其I-V特性进行了测量,随后对试样在10%NH4F:10%H2O2:H2O中进行了钝化处理,并对处理后的试样再次进行了I-V测量,对于测试结果用热电子发射-扩散理论进行了分析.结果表明:Au与Hg1-xMnxTe形成了良好的欧姆接触,而Al与Hg1-xMnxTe形成了具有整流特性的肖特基接触,其肖特基势垒的理论推算值为0.38eV.钝化处理后的试样,其表面漏电现象明显降低,Au/Hg1-xMnxTe接触的电流下降幅度在0.1V时最大,为76.1%;而Al/Hg1-xMnxTe接触在0.2V时最大,为93.2%.随着偏压的进一步增大,两种接触的电流减小的幅度都逐渐变小.     

Parallel arrays of Schottky barrier nanowire field effect transistors: Nanoscopic effects for macroscopic current output

We present novel Schottky barrier field effect transistors consisting of a parallel array of bottom-up grown silicon nanowires that are able to deliver high current outputs. Axial silicidation of the nanowires is used to create defined Schottky junctions leading to on/off current ratios of up to 10⁶. The device concept leverages the unique transport properties of nanoscale junctions to boost device performance for macroscopic applications. Using parallel arrays, on-currents of over 500 μA at a source-drain voltage of 0.5 V can be achieved. The transconductance is thus increased significantly while maintaining the transfer characteristics of single nanowire devices. By incorporating several hundred nanowires into the parallel array, the yield of functioning transistors is dramatically increased and deviceto-device variability is reduced compared to single devices. This new nanowirebased platform provides sufficient current output to be employed as a transducer for biosensors or a driving stage for organic light-emitting diodes (LEDs), while the bottom-up nature of the fabrication procedure means it can provide building blocks for novel printable electronic devices.      

Nanometer sized polymer based Schottky junctions

The aim of this work was to realize and characterize rectifying junctions with nanometer thickness based on conducting polymers. Various monolayer films were deposited onto different flat graphite electrodes in order to obtain the Schottky interfaces. The second electrical contact was realized by approaching the monolayer film with sharp tip electrode at nanometric distances, in order to create tunneling barriers. A couple of hundred of junctions were realized following this procedure. The investigated junctions have shown rectifying behavior on the current/voltage characteristics in the 96% of the cases. The analysis of the current/voltage characteristics revealed the typical behavior of Schottky barriers. The ideality factor and the Schottky barrier of the junctions were calculated. Moreover, a linear relationship between the threshold voltage and the tunneling barrier width was revealed. In our knowledge, this is the first report of a Schottky junction realized with a monolayer of polymer film.     

Field-lowering carrier excitation in cadmium arsenide thin films

Cadmium arsenide is a II–V semiconductor which exhibits n-type intrinsic conductivity with high mobility up to μ_n=1.0–1.5 m²/V s. Potential applications include magnetoresistors and both thermal and photodetectors, which require electrical characterization over a wide range of deposition and measurement conditions. The films were prepared by vacuum evaporation with deposition rates in the range 0.5–6.0 nm/s and substrate temperatures maintained at constant values of 20–120°C. Sandwich-type samples were deposited with film thicknesses of 0.1–1.1 μm using evaporated electrodes of Ag and occasionally Au or Al. Above a typical electric field F_b of up to 5×10⁷ V/m all samples showed instabilities characteristic of dielectric breakdown or electroforming. Below this field they showed a high-field conduction process with logJ∝V^1/2, where J is the current density and V the applied voltage. This type of dependence is indicative of carrier excitation over a potential barrier whose effective barrier height has been lowered by the high electric field. The field-lowering coefficient β had a value of (1.2–5.3)×10⁻⁵ eV m^1/2/V^1/2 which is reasonably consistent with the theoretical value of β_PF=2.19×10⁻⁵ eV m^1/2/V^1/2 expected when the field-lowering occurs at donor-like centres in the semiconductor (Poole–Frenkel effect). For thinner films Schottky emission was more probable. The effects of the film thickness, electrode materials, deposition rate, and substrate temperature on the conductivity behaviour are discussed.     

Electron field emitters based on multi-walled carbon nanotubes coated with conducting polymer/metal/metal-oxide composites

The present work describes the field emission properties of multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs)-based conducting polymer/metal-oxide/metal/MWNTs composites (polyaniline (PANI)/SnO₂/Sn/MWNTs). MWNTs were synthesised by chemical vapour deposition technique. SnO₂/Sn/MWNTs were prepared by using chemical reduction followed by calcination. By in situ polymerisation method, surface of SnO₂/Sn/MWNTs were coated with PANI. PANI/SnO₂/Sn/MWNTs field emitters were fabricated over flexible graphitised carbon fabric substrate by spin coating technique. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterise the field emitters. Field emission properties have been studied using an indigenously made facility. The fabricated PANI/SnO₂/Sn/MWNTs field emitters exhibited excellent field emission properties with a turn on field of 1.83 V µm^?1 and a field enhancement factor of 4800.